Perfectly Aligned
by SwamAmongTheNorthernLights
Summary: I was alone. Before and after shit hit the fan. While I was certainly comfortable being alone, sometimes my conscious would tell me otherwise. I found two survivors. They told me nobody could do this alone. One of them thought like me. That there has to be good people out there. The other just stuck a crossbow at my face. OC story. Story of damaged people connecting to each other.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! so this is my first attempt at a Walking Dead fanfic and I guess there's not much to say except that I hope you enjoy this first chapter. It's pretty much taking place between the episodes in season 4 titled "After" and "Inmates". As of right now I don't have any plans for a Character/OC romantic pairing type thing, but who knows, somewhere down the line maybe I'll change my mind. So, you'll just have to stay tuned. Please review and let me know what you think and again I hope you enjoy! This story is rated T for language and some violence. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Walking Dead related including, characters, storylines/plot, just my OC, Alex, and her background. Everything belongs to Robert Kirkman, that lucky, lucky man.**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Alone"

"**So you don't know were you're going, and you wanna talk**

**And you feel like you're going where you've been before**

**You tell anyone who'll listen but you feel ignored**

**Nothing's really making any sense at all."- Coldplay**

The smell hit me first. It smelled like Fall which was strange considering its most likely summer here in the south. It smelled like the decomposing of leaves only these leaves were burning. It was crisp and the aroma seemed to get stronger the more steps I took. That's when I saw the smoke. The lingering clouds of it, like fog, wafted through the tree line ahead of me. I had two options. Walk away or risk my life. The smoke could be anything. It could be sanctuary or my inevitable death. It has been a long time since I saw anyone alive that wasn't about to make me their afternoon snack. Too long. Did I really want to risk my life finding out what the smoke was coming from? On the one hand, it could just be a large fire for a group of survivors. On the other hand…

Even if it was a group of survivors, would they take me in? I'd like to think so. I mean, especially since the world has gone to shit. It would be cruel to leave someone high and dry in a world like this. I don't really know how I've managed to keep myself alive. What would they think of me? Could I be a powerful asset to their group? How would I be able to help? I'm good at taking care of myself, so I'm sure I'd be okay helping others. Then again, maybe they wouldn't be so welcoming. Maybe they would think I'm just intruding. I don't want to intrude. Everyone was probably already close. I'd just be the new kid. The wallflower that was just sort of there, not really existing in the eyes of others. I'd be no different than the corpses. There, but not _there. _

I found myself curious, however. I wouldn't intrude. I'd just take a quick peek and then I'd leave. Leave if there was nothing there for me. If the coast was clear I could always scavenge. Keep myself hunkered down so as to not be seen…just in case. Something tells me I could stand tall and still be able to scavenge unseen. I walked forward slowly, a large branch I sharpened at the end in front of me, my grip tight. With one hand I pushed aside a few low branches and nearly fell over at the sight before me. I shuffled backwards a few steps, hiding myself again and only peeked through the branches with my eyes. It was a prison. The watch towers were engulfed in smoke and fire. The gates securing it were torn down. Like _really _torn down. It was hard to tell if that was by the corpses or something heavier. All I could think was why someone would want to get rid of this place. Destroy it. Ironically, a prison would be the best place in the world to shack up in this time of crisis. I looked to the right and saw several vehicles parked in a semi-circle facing the prison. Further ahead, was…what was that a tank? Whoever found that was a lucky son of a bitch. Of course by the looks of things maybe not. The sight before me almost blinded me of what the real trouble seemed to be here. Corpses were everywhere. Walking aimlessly as they do when they aren't chowing down. There had to be hell…maybe one-hundred of them. I've seen something like this before. I didn't really have the time to assess my situation though. Too busy hiding from them.

I might be the only living person in this world that still has a hard time finding it in myself to kill one of them. I made myself a weapon out of this branch for precautionary reasons obviously, but it hasn't seen much action. Like at all. I haven't killed one. Not even one. My talent just includes being able to stay hidden. That is what I have been doing for over a year, and surprisingly my social anxiety from my previous life turned out to be an advantage. I knew how to be quiet. Knew how to avoid the living and the dead.

What the hell happened here? Unless I disconnected myself from humanity for too long and missed the part where corpses learned to drive, I think it was pretty safe to say people did this. Why would anyone do this? I was about to turn around and walk away. There was no way in hell I'd be able to make use of this place. Let alone even get inside. However, something caught my eye. A body amongst the crowd that moved faster, no lag, no aimless sense of direction. This woman marched forward. A few of the corpses turned their heads slowly noticing her as I did. They started to follow her and in that moment I wanted desperately to cry out and warn her that she would get ambushed. I wanted to help, but helping her meant risking my own life, and at the moment it was the only thing I valued. Being alone for so long made you selfish I guess. I think I'm being reasonable. There were so many of them. They'd follow me. Plus, it didn't seem like she was at all worried. I couldn't move, too intrigued by this woman to look away. She carried a sword with her and just when I thought she didn't seem to notice how dangerously close the corpses were getting to her, I was wrong. With fluid, and obviously trained skill, I watched her, one-by-one hack and slice through their bodies and heads like it took no effort at all.

She was alone too from the looks of things. Only she appeared to have taken a different path on the road to loneliness. You know when you look at someone and you can tell they've seen some shit? This woman has seen some shit. A lot of it. The world they simultaneously lived in hardened her. I wonder how alike the two of us are. From the looks of it, strictly outward appearance, not a whole lot. But they were both alone and while this woman may have seen some shit, she knew how to take care of herself. She faced these…things…head on, not a care in the world. I avoided them just as I did when they were still living. What path didn't I take that she did? I guess I'll never know.

I retreated into the woods as quietly as I could. The last thing I needed was to have the herd of corpses on my ass. Not too terribly many places to hide in the woods. Unless I climbed a tree, but I only want to have to do that at night. Just like I always do.

When all this shit went down I felt more alone than ever. Everyone else either selfishly tried to save their own ass or save their loved ones. I was the selfish kind…am the selfish kind. I should've never left New York. And to think, I left to get _away_ from my family. I don't even know if they're alive. At the beginning of things, I never even got a phone call. Nothing. Not like I was very surprised though. Still, they could've at least texted. I mean before technology became useless.

* * *

It had been a solid hour that passed since I saw the woman at the prison. Even if I had no clue what day it was, I still could keep time. A pat on the shoulder for me for remembering to wear a watch the day I left New York. I know it seems pointless, but if it brings you comfort than why the hell not? I can't be the only one right?

I started to slow down, really feeling the Georgia heat I heard about before I came here. I don't know how people lived in heat like this. It felt like with each minute that passed it seemed to suffocate you more. It was muggy, buggy, and uncomfortable. The things I would do for a bottle of water. Limitless. I was running pretty low on supplies, so it was a huge bummer to pass up the prison. However, it wasn't the first place I had to make a quick escape from despite there being a pretty great amount of useful supplies. I would just have to hope there was a spring nearby or some house hidden, secure, small that I could ransack. I stopped to rest my legs, leaning over, my hands on my knees, my breath heavy. I stood back up and wiped the sweat that beaded on my forehead and looking up and around I was comforted by the sounds of birds chirping, squirrels nails pitter-pattering on the trunks of trees. It was peaceful here despite the weather conditions. It was quiet. I felt better in here than I ever did on the main roads. It was worse on the outside. When I came to the woods, I remember feeling a wave of calmness flood within me. Strange how the places that seem most dangerous turned out to be the best places for people now. I had started out on the main roads seeing some new horror everyday. I saw corpses tearing into the screaming, defenceless, living. I walked along what could only be considered a grave yard now. The highway was filled with run-down cars, some inhabiting the dead. Well the ones that stayed dead. I remember crying while I tore apart the cars looking for anything that could be useful. That was the last time I cried. I saw plenty of neighbourhoods filled with the corpses, and vowed after that that I would be better off going somewhere a little more secluded where I wasn't reminded every waking minute what had happened to the world. I don't think I'll run into too many people in the woods.

* * *

Another few hours passed. The air chilled, but not enough to have to cover up. Southern states were like that in the summer. Even without the warmth of the sun, you could still be comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt at…8:30 in the evening. The woods might have been good for me in the day, but night was a different story. I stopped and looked around at all the trees assessing which one looked good to climb and when I found one with plenty of sturdy branches, I sat my backpack down and pulled out a long length of rope I had found in some camping good store along the way of my endless journey. Still in a loop, I criss-crossed it around my chest and put my backpack back on my shoulders and heaved myself up on the branches, one-by-one. A few branches later and I found myself looking down deciding I was up far enough where no one could see me. I checked the branch for sturdiness and how wide it was and climbed up into a sitting position, my legs stretched out in front of me together. Taking a minute, I sucked in a couple of deep breaths and carefully removed the rope from around my chest, unraveling it slowly and looping it around my upper thighs and the branch beneath me. I double knotted the rope above my legs tightly and sighed when I was finished, leaning my head back against the tree. I wonder if there will ever be a time when I'll grow tired of sleeping in trees. Didn't do my back any favors. Or my sleeping pattern for that matter. Geez, when did I start becoming a ninety-year-old? I'm twenty-four…I think. I wiped my face and started to feel the heaviness of sleep slither its way inside, but my mind was racing. Typical. My mind wouldn't shut up when I wanted to sleep. Sometimes I gave in. Stayed up all hours of the night listening to those thoughts. On the worst nights, embarrassingly, I'd give in and listen, and I'd respond. I couldn't stop thinking about my family since I saw the woman at the prison. Was it selfish of me to ignore them completely, not worry if they were okay or not? Were they dead? Were they searching for me?

"Yeah right, Alex. Nobody's looking for you," I smiled into the night.

Well I don't know that. They could be in a car or on foot making their way to Georgia right as we speak.

"It's been a year, Alex. No ones comin'."

I laughed at the crazy ideas my own mind came up with. They're dead. They have to be. That or they really could give two shits about me. Either way, it was evident more than ever now. I thought of them, my mother and my two sisters. My mother was a doctor, a neurologist. My older sister an aspiring actress who moved out to California the day she turned eighteen, looking for work. While it wasn't the ideal lifestyle my mother wanted for her, my sister got work, and the pattern never got interrupted. That was good enough for my mother. My little sister was fifteen. Just a freshman in high school. Still such a kid, but you couldn't tell her that. She was perfect. Looked just like my mother, had a good head on her shoulders, got straight A's. She used to be the only one that was nice to me, but once she hit those angst-filled early teenage years, it was all over. She turned to Facebook and boys. So, like I said. I was never truly alone, but it always felt that way. Must be why I'm so good at being it now.

My eyes fought against the heaviness of sleep, but sleep won. I closed my eyes and it took no time at all to succumb to the events of my day.

* * *

_I was walking in a hallway and at the end of this empty hallway was a full length mirror. I could see my reflection from a distance and decided for some reason to keep walking toward it. The reason being that I didn't know how I ended up in this hallway when just hours before I was in the woods. Spotlights shined down on the wooden floor beneath me and they gave off a hazy glow making the path ahead of me unclear. It made my eyes feel like they were watering, like if I blinked everything would be clear again. I focused on the task ahead of me. The mirror. I kept my eyes on my reflection and the closer I got to the mirror, the stranger my reflection became. At first it was just little differences. The most noticeable being the way I moved. Slowly, I seemed to shuffle forward, not picking up my feet. Then I saw that my head seemed to bob back and forth with each shuffling of my feet. As I got even closer, I could see my clothes had become much dirtier. I knew I looked like a damn hot mess usually, but this was just unbelievable. I was coated with mud, dirt, and blood. Some old, some fresh. Did I fall and cut myself and not realize it? It wasn't until I stopped right in the front of the mirror that I really started to freak out. My skin was rotting, greying, peeling. There was blood dripping from my dry, cracked lips. When I tried to scream, nothing even close to a scream escaped my lips. It was more of a snarl. Like the corpses. _

I gasped and sat up straight feeling dizzy and jumped when I felt myself starting to fall. I slammed my hands down on the tree trunk steadying myself, breathing hard. I felt one tear escape but quickly wiped it away. Why did I have that dream all the time? Why couldn't I figure out in my dream that it was just a dream? I took a few moments to calm myself before I heard the snarl again, much like my own dream snarl. I looked down and around myself and saw at least a dozen corpses coming up from behind me below. I also heard a couple of pants, too normal sounding to be something that would come out of the dead. I looked around again and saw two figures running just a few distances ahead of the corpses. I continued to calm my breathing and stay quiet as the dead passed by, waiting a few minutes in case of any stragglers and for the rest of them to get far enough away that I could climb down the tree unnoticed.

* * *

I hit the ground with a solid thud, pulling my backpack off my back to put the rope back inside of it and then headed forward. I don't know what made me decide to go towards the corpses. Maybe it was the strong hope I felt towards wanting to help people even if I didn't always fall through with it, or the fact that any company would be welcomed right about now, living or dead. After that dream that I seemed to have every time I did get any sleep I wouldn't even care who was near because at least there would be someone there with me. I walked slowly keeping my eyes peeled at my surroundings, but didn't see anyone.

I probably lost them. I mean they were running, running away from the dead and here I was tracking the whole lot. They're either dead or they got away. Still, I couldn't help but be curious to see the outcome. That was just an aspect of my personality. I was curious, but too afraid to face whatever was the end of the line. I kept walking, watching my step and my surroundings, when I heard what sounded like someone stepping on a twig, the echo deafening in the silence that encompassed the environment. I stopped short and looked around…nothing….and then the twig snapped again, this time like it was right behind me. I turned around and a corpse came hurdling towards me, growling, his hands reaching towards me.

"Shit," I muttered running away from it as fast and as stealthily as I could. I don't know how long I ran until I escaped the woods, a little embarrassed that one corpse could scare the living shit out of me enough when I knew I could've had no trouble killing just one of them. He'd be my first and then maybe I wouldn't find the need to hide from them every time I saw them. I emerged in the sunlight amongst an entire field of very tall, overgrown, light brown grass. I couldn't see above or through it, but didn't trust that the woods would be any better safety-wise. I took a hesitant step forward and then broke into a light jog through the tall grass hoping I wouldn't end up running in circles through it. Thats when I heard it again, the growling, moaning, snarling sound I should've been used to. I panicked, unaware of what direction the sound was coming from, but finding myself continuing to run in the same direction. Forward. The snarling became louder like it was right behind me and even though my legs and feet ached, my mind felt panicked and dizzy. I pushed myself to keep running until I felt my foot slam into something solid and realized all too quickly that my whole body was thrown forward harshly because of it. I landed hard on the ground beneath me, hissing in pain when I felt my hands scrape against the ground. When I made to turn myself around and onto my back my eyes were levelled with a girl, maybe a few years younger than myself sitting on the ground staring at me unblinkingly with her round, big, blue eyes. Clever me couldn't find the right words to say to this girl. In my mind I was thinking I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, what's your name, but I guess this is the one time of many that my social anxiety became a disadvantage. I was about to sit up when I felt a foot nudge me back down resting on my chest a little uncomfortably and I was forced to look above me at a man, the one I must have tripped over, and in his hands was a crossbow and it was aimed right at my face.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Thanks for the follows and reviews!

"**I'm a warrior all alone, in the field of lies, I won't go home"-_Nuclear Seasons-Charli XCX_**

Chivalry is dead at the end of the world. This was becoming an all too real fact feeling the pressure of this stranger's foot pinning my chest to the ground. I looked up at him with obvious fear stricken eyes and felt a wave of chills run up and down my spine spreading out to my arms and legs like tree branches. I didn't dare move an inch and while I did feel fear I also felt something else. Disgust. Mostly for myself. I saw the look on this man's face, pure unadulterated anger. The young girl with him had nothing but fear in her eyes and I felt something unidentified, itching, scratching, its way to the front of my mind. I was disgusted with the fact that I let myself get into this situation. I should have known following these two would lead to this. I'm such an idiot.

I looked between the man's small eyes and the arrow that threatened to pierce me right between my own. There were a few moments of silence and then the girl spoke.

"Wait, Daryl. At least let her stand," she said, her voice filled with innocence.

He breathed heavily and aggressively removed his foot from my chest. I stayed still for a couple of seconds judging what he would do if I got up too fast. So, I quickly sat up and decided to stay sitting on the ground perfectly aware that his crossbow was still aimed at me.

"You alone," he asked, his voice a complete polar opposite from the girl he was traveling with. It was mumbled and rough, his southern accent nearly swallowed his words.

I nodded, unable to form words.

"Were you with a group ever?"

I shook my head no.

I saw the look on the girl's face. A simultaneous expression that suggested she was both astonished and confused.

"You've been alone this whole time?"

I gazed directly at her and said yes.

The two of them gave each other a look and my eyes snapped back to this so-called Daryl.

"How many walkers you killed?"

I hesitated in answering the question for two reasons. The first was wondering what the hell a walker was and then making the connection that what I called corpses they called walkers. Walkers. I liked that better. Maybe I could ask if I could steal that from them. The second thought that ran through my mind was why it was suddenly so important to know how many of them I killed.

"W-Why does it matter," my voice cracked and shaky.

"Answer the question," he commanded, shoving the crossbow into my face closer now.

I froze up and held my hands up in surrender. Well here comes the embarrassment. They'd laugh in my face knowing I haven't killed a single one. Or maybe they'd be like me. I felt bad for them. Sorry that their lives had become what they had become. Sorry that they weren't fast enough or…skilled enough? Not that I thought I was superior or anything. I mean, again, I don't know how I survived this long. Especially through the winter. While the dead people walking around were a bad enough threat, so was freezing cold weather and nowhere to keep warm.

"I've never killed one."

I sat waiting for the eruption of laughter, but it never came. No they just looked shocked probably wondering how someone like me even lasted as long as I have, just as I had. They did it again, looking at each other, exchanging silent words and they each seemed to understand what the other was saying.

"How many people you killed?"

My expression sank at his question. It was one thing to ask someone how many of the corpses…walkers….they had killed, but why in the hell would someone kill a living person? We were such a dying breed anyway. That was just barbaric. I looked between the two of them and they seems to really focus on me more than before, like this question was the deal breaker.

"Why would I kill someone?"

There they went, glancing at each other again. The young girl nodded her head at him and Daryl looked back at me.

"So you haven't killed anyone…why?"

Well that's kind of a loaded question. I mean I didn't kill the living because of morality and humanity. I kind of need those. I didn't kill the dead because why kill them when you can just run away or not be seen by them at all? Besides, it seemed to be working just fine for me.

"Seems wrong, I guess."

They both went silent and I was left to determine what it was that was going to happen next. Would my answers satisfy them? Or would they leave me alone? Or worse…would they kill me? Maybe that's the reason for all these questions. The silence was deafening.

"Do you wanna come with us," the girl asked.

I looked up at her and then back at Daryl, and looked around myself. It was pretty hot outside, and I was running pretty low on supplies. Of course by the looks of them I'd say they weren't doing any better than me. I was perfectly content being alone, better actually, but between the nightmare I had and recent events I wasn't about to leave these two. They also seemed a little more seasoned than me. That could be a gain for me if I joined them. While the girl looked down at me, a hint of a smile on her face, Daryl only scowled at me. Well, at least one of them was happy to have me around. I nodded my head and surprisingly, Daryl dropped his weapon down to hang at his side and offered me his hand. I took it hesitantly and he heaved me up easily like I weighed nothing.

I winced, feeling a stinging jolt of pain spread from the center of my palm out to my finger tips. I pulled away quickly bringing my hand to my chest. I looked at the four, but small, cuts like a claw mark on my palm from the fall, seeing blood filling up the lines, threatening to spill out. For tiny little scratches, they hurt like hell. I looked up at Daryl, his narrow eyes focused on me, and he looked like he was pissed off or something. What the hell did I do? Did he always look like that? He was still staring at me and chewing the inside of his lip, scowling, like I just ran over his puppy or something. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid of him.

The girl, obviously noticing the thickness in tension between all of us, went to stand in front of me.

"Do you have some water?"

I looked up at her and shook my head no.

"Ok…how about anything to wrap it with until we can find some water?"

I reached into my backpack pulling out a a tank top I had brought with me on the plane and held it up in front of me, silently asking if it would suffice. The girl nodded and took it from me.

"Do you mind if I tear a part off the bottom? The tank top will be a little thick if I use the whole thing."

I found it difficult to talk to them. The girl seemed nice, so she made me feel slightly more comfortable, but it was Daryl hovering over us that made me uneasy. I didn't like the way he lingered. The girl accepted my silent agreement to let her ruin one of my only shirts I had with me. Had I known the world was gonna go to shit, I would've overpacked like I had planned to.

She started to rip a part off the bottom all the way around the shirt and handed me back the rest. I forced a smile and put the tank top back in my bag. I guess I could still wear it. It looks more like a crop top now though. Not sure how efficient and safe a crop top was.

She walked closer to me and offered to wrap my hand to which I hesitantly obliged. She gingerly started to wrap it around my palm and my fingers recoiled slightly at the pain. She looked into my eyes with a silent apology and stepped back when she was finished.

"Thank you…for everything."

"It's no problem."

Daryl scoffed at the girl's response. Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't want me here. You see me as a burden. I get it. Then it came back to the awkward silence. We all just kind of stood there and looked at each other. So what now?

"Um…what's your name," the girl asked.

"Alex. Alex Lancaster."

Beth offered her hand out to me and with the hand that wasn't scratched up I put my hand in hers and shook it.

"I'm Beth Greene. This is Daryl Dixon," she said pointing her other hand back towards him.

He greeted me back with his signature scowl and Beth seemed to notice how uncomfortable his gaze made me.

"Don't worry. You get used to him," she said low enough for only me to hear.

I grimaced and let go of her hand securing them on the straps of my backpack. Yeah, I'm not so sure that was entirely true. How could anyone get used to the way he was looked at people? Certainly someone that could give a rat's ass what he thought. That person wasn't me.

"We gotta keep moving," Daryl grunted.

Beth and I nodded and started to follow him through the thick grass I had found them in until we reached the other side of the forest, making our way through the trees. Daryl was a few steps ahead of us, Beth was in the middle, and I opted to stay behind, mostly because I felt awkward with these two around and also because I didn't really want to be close to Daryl at all. I don't know what it was about him that had me freaked out so much. Sure he looked like every stereotype in the book of what to expect from someone that came from Georgia. That wasn't surprising, but I think for now I just thought maybe it was his standoffish attitude towards me. Like I said, I think he just saw me as a burden…another mouth to feed, and I had to admit I actually felt kind of bad about it. I fended for myself for a year, so I would make sure to look after myself even with other people around. Help out when I could and needed to.

"You guys…said you…don't have water?"

The two stopped in their tracks and looked back at me. I hated how stupid I sounded. Like a scared little girl, yet again, another aspect of my personality. I hesitated continuing, silently scolding myself for the way I was acting.

"I'm pretty good at finding water. I can help, if…if you need it. I was actually gonna try to find some this morning before…before I ran into you."

Beth smiled at Daryl and looked back to me.

"Sure. That would be really nice."

I nodded and Beth urged me to walk in front of them which meant I had to walk right ahead of Daryl. I didn't look at him as I passed, but could feel his eyes on me the whole time.

I shook off the bad feeling and kneeled down looking at the ground. With my good hand, I felt the ground and noticed there were several animal tracks criss-crossing, but all generally aimed in the same direction. Just ahead of us. I scoped the ground in front of me and saw small patches of vegetation littering the forest floor. I walked ahead and kneeled down feeling the ground, the green moss that stood only a few inches off the ground, as I expected, felt wet and moist to the touch. I turned around and grinned at them.

"There must be a stream ahead, there's tracks and vegetation here."

While Beth smiled and I could physically see a light in her start to burst from behind her eyes, Daryl just sighed and walked over closer to me.

"You don't think I saw that?"

My smile faded. What was this, an ego thing? Did he really see what I was seeing or was he just hurt that I found it first? Either way I honestly felt kind of good about it.

"Don't be a jerk, Daryl. Let's keep going."

Beth walked passed Daryl and stood beside me urging me to keep walking and she would stay by my side while Daryl walked behind us.

"So, how do you know how to do that?"

"Oh…I went to summer camps as a kid. My mom made me. It's nothing, survival 101 mostly."

"Well, it's more than I know. Glad we found you," she said to me.

I felt a flutter in my stomach. The kind that I had only experienced once in my life. It was the recognition of someone being proud of you. A signal of a coming friendship. While being alone certainly had its benefits, I was starting to believe that I needed this. I needed someone to talk to other than myself. I needed a friend, even despite the noticeable age difference.

We walked for another few minutes in silence until finally we came to a clearing and sure enough there was a small running stream of water. We all found ourselves practically falling to the ground beside it. Each of us cupped our hands into the water and poured it down the backs of our necks and lathered it onto the skin of our arms like it was lotion.

I'm sure I've had times in my life before when, hell, just seeing water felt like the best thing in the world. But this…this was like entering the Garden of Eden. I looked down the stream and saw the sun making the water look like diamonds. It glinted off the surface and reflected different shades of red, blue, green, and yellow. Almost like a rainbow and I couldn't help but think how beautiful it was out here in the forest. It was again another reason why I stayed within the trees. Not only to avoid the outside world where everything was nothing but blood, fire, and death, but because even in all of that decaying abnormality that surrounded us, there was still something beautiful. Something alive.

I stood up and took an empty water bottle from my pack and looked around at the leaves that had turned inwards, little puddles of water collecting in the center of them from the recent rain. I tipped the ends of the leaves into the bottle and filled it up only about halfway, and once Daryl saw me doing this, he too decided to follow my actions. He filled his up more than halfway and handed it first to Beth before taking a swig of it himself. It occurred to me then how much of an outsider I really was. These two obviously knew each other. What I couldn't figure out was the relationship. From the very short time I had spent with them, he didn't really talk much and obviously wasn't a very cheery guy, which I guess I understand and everything, but still. Would it hurt to smile a bit every once in awhile? Of course, seeing this man smile would be like Wednesday Addams smiling. More scary than actually nice.

We all sat on the ground upon three big boulders. Beth was running her fingers through the slow moving stream and Daryl was sharpening his arrows with a knife. Beth looked up at me and I could tell by the look on her face that she was about to start a conversation with me. I internally grimaced. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to these people. Get to know them and all that. I just wasn't very good at it.

"So, are you from here? I don't really hear an accent in your voice, but…"

"Oh, no, I'm from New York."

"Wow, I've always wanted to go to New York. How is it there?"

"Cold…mostly…and the people are a little aggressive, nothing like this," I said pointing at everything around me, feeling the moisture and sweat coating the back of my neck. "…but its home."

Beth smiled and nodded.

"I know what you mean. So why are you here? Did you live here?"

I looked up at her and flashes of how I got here entered my mind, making me revert back to the shy girl I truly am. Being introverted wasn't all that bad. I chose to be alone, to be a listener more than a speaker. It wasn't that I was necessarily afraid of talking, I just chose not to really. Only adding my input in when I felt it necessary. So, I guess this was one of those times. Something tells me lying my way out of a story I was a little nervous to talk about wouldn't be the way to gain their trust, and they seemed like alright people.

"I was coming here to finish my last year of college. I transferred universities."

"Oh. Did you ever finish school?"

"No. Actually, I was at the airport when all of this started."

Beth's smile faded and she went silent, like she was at a loss for words.

"I bet that was awful. I heard they had to cancel all the flights…you know before they stopped broadcasting."

I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat unsure if I wanted to continue telling her everything and I think she noticed because she reached out and touched her fingertips to my knees. I hadn't spoken about it to anyone for over a year. I just dealt with it and moved on.

"You don't have to tell me if its too much…I get it. I just think that maybe it might help….to talk about it."

I nodded and Beth brought her hand back to herself. I took a deep breath before I continued.

"We were forced to stay inside, flights cancelled, all of that. Just in case anyone found anything out. I remember everyone in my terminal just…huddled around a news channel on TV. There was a couple standing next to me. I ended up talking to them for awhile. They were so easy to talk to…like you. They calmed me down. I think they were from Ireland. About to go on their honeymoon, they told me, but obviously couldn't get out of Atlanta."

I stopped finding it harder and harder to continue, but realized that Beth was right. I needed to talk about this. Keeping my feelings in might have worked alright for me before, but in this world it only made you worse off. I was aware of how bad of a decision that was, it just sometimes felt like the right one. Keeping everything in, not showing anyone how you really felt, but something about these two sitting in front of me had me feeling like all of these painful emotions would start spilling out. Seeing this innocent girl running around with a guy like Daryl didn't sit right with me, and I'm not even really sure why.

"And then…day became night and we still hadn't heard anything from anyone. I was just about asleep when…those things just…piled in."

I felt myself start to blubber up. Tears welcomed themselves to my eyes waiting to burst out of my eyes. I felt the dryness in my throat start to suffocate me and I took a deep breath again.

"I can still hear…" I cleared my throat and continued, "Anyway, like I alway do, I found a place to hide. A janitors closet and I locked myself inside."

"For how long?"

"Just…the rest of the night."

"How'd you get out?"

_This is it. Are you sure you're ready for this? You are about to tell Beth the very first terrible thing you'd seen. _I looked down at my feet and took two deep breaths.

"By the time I decided to leave…I don't know it's like they all left together…it's weird. You guys ever seen a herd of them?"

I watched Beth stay silent, a look of terror filling her round eyes. I guess she had.

"Well…that's what they did, most of them. They just left. A few stragglers were there, but they were far enough away that I could slip passed them. Except one. H-he was…right across the hall from me, near the bathroom. The only way I got passed him was because he…it was just a k-kid."

I couldn't help it anymore. Tears started to spill and I hiccuped a sob back from escaping to prevent myself from having it turn into full on bawling. No, come on. Not here. Not with these two staring back at you. I didn't have to know what look was on Daryl's face. He was probably rolling his eyes. There was a moment of silence before I heard Beth speak up.

"And you never found anyone else? No group or anything?"

"No."

She stared back at me and the look of pity she had could be seen from space. Normally, I wouldn't want anyone feeling sorry for me, but was it so wrong to suddenly enjoy the feeling? To know that someone actually cared about what I had been through?

"Well, I'm glad you found us. Isn't that right, Daryl?"

We both looked over at him and he looked between the two of us with no care in the world and went back to sharpening his arrows. Silent. Beth looked back at me and mouthed, _I'm sorry. _I shook my head and tried to make her understand that it didn't matter. I'd rather he not make conversation with me anyways.

"It's okay. I get it."

I wasn't even really sure if I was telling her that, or him.

"Do you have a family," Beth asked.

I went silent. I should've known she would ask. I might have had a terrible time discussing more recent tragic events, but the topic of family matters was much, much worse. Damn near suffocating.

"Yeah, but they're back in New York. My older sister is in California…I mean…I think they are."

That was it. That was all I could manage. No more. No, I wasn't gonna get off that easy. Beth was a curious teenager at best. She'd push until she knew everything about me. Maybe this was a part of why they had both asked those questions. Make sure I had a family life. That I wasn't psychotic or something.

"You never heard from them," she asked almost in disbelief.

I just shook my head.

"I'm sorry. That must have been awful…not knowing."

Not really. It could've been worse. They could've been with her right now.

"It's okay. We weren't close."

Before I could even finish my sentence Daryl roughly stood up, seemingly annoyed, and made a beeline straight into the woods where we came out of. He walked far enough in that he was away, but not far enough that he couldn't be seen. Beth and I were startled, but Beth didn't seem to be as shocked as I was a second later.

"Was it something I said?"

Beth pursed her lips and shook her head.

"That's just how he is. You'll get used to it, like I said."

I nodded, not fulling understanding his reactions to my words about my family, but not having the energy to try and delve into it. I was more interested in the two of them now. Besides, it seemed only fair that I know exactly who I was dealing with as well.

"So, what's with you guys? Are you family?"

"I guess. I mean we're not blood related, but I've known him for awhile. We…had a group. Got separated a few days ago."

So she got the short end of the stick I'm guessing. Ended up with the brooding guy of the group. That sucks. Then again, he seemed like the type of guy that would survive this thing. Maybe he wasn't the best person to be stuck with, but he was the most efficient.

"Was it…a herd," I asked her.

I mean it must have been. What else would split them apart? It was the way she hesitated that made me realize the eerie creeping feeling start to build within me. It was the way I noticed tears started to form in her eyes, and the way she quickly willed them away, clearing her throat.

"Something like that," she answered simply. "My sister is out there somewhere."

* * *

Daryl had eventually found his way back to us and urged for us to get as much water as we could in whatever we had and move on. I don't know if it was the conversation we had earlier in the day or if there really just wasn't anything to talk about anymore, but we stayed silent, just walking, for hours. Oh the perks of the end of times. Couldn't ask Beth how high school was. If she got asked to prom. How they spent their weekend. No. Nowadays it was, so did you happen to kill a lot of walkers today? Did you find food, water, or shelter? Small talk was just out the question now. It was spill your guts, no pun intended, or you're on your own. I realize that now.

The hours passed by so quickly I almost didn't even notice that the sun had went down completely. We found a small circle of open land surrounded by trees and Daryl, without a word, sat his crossbow and trash bag down next to his feet. All we had for light was the light from the moon that conveniently shined down upon us. Beth and I just stood there, but Beth moved to stand next to Daryl like she was fully aware of what he was doing. She kneeled down as he went to sit on a tree log on the ground, and found a a few sticks, starting to put them in a pile. Along with the sticks, she started piling leaves and anything else that would burn easily. It was when she started to rub sticks together that I found myself offering help where I could. Where I needed to.

"Here, I've got a lighter, actually."

I reached into my pack and pulled out a lighter I had found scavenging the cars on the highway. It didn't have a lot of liquid inside, but it would work. I kneeled down and flicked the switch a couple of times before a flame ignited. I lit the small fire Beth had built and put the lighter back in my bag. She smiled her thanks and leaned back against the tree log Daryl was perched upon. I found myself sitting across from them on the other side of the fire on the cold ground. After a few minutes of silence I looked up at the two of them and saw how they sat there, so morose. Like they had just seen their loved ones die. Like they had no reason to live. I guess maybe they had seen something awful. Maybe the herd did kill someone, or many others. I looked over at Beth who idly twisted her knife in half circles on the tree trunk beside her. I looked over at Daryl who held his hands together in front of him, his gaze watching the flames dance in front of him. His hair covered his eyes, shielding any expression or feeling. We stayed like this, content, silently clouded in our own thoughts when Beth pierced the silence with a worrisome tone in her voice.

"We should do something," she said looking at Daryl.

She was met with silence and thinking he hadn't heard her she repeated herself, loudly this time and with annoyance laced in every word.

"We should _do _something. We aren't the only survivors. We can't be. Rick, Michonne, they could be out here. Maggie and Glenn could have made it out of A block. They could've. You're a tracker. You can track. Come on. The sun will be up soon. If we head out now we can-"

She was met with silence still. She stared at him unbelievably, pissed, annoyed. It was the first time I had seen her like this since I joined them, like she was angry. All that doe-eyed, innocence was momentarily gone. I looked over at Daryl who continued to stare at the fire, not saying a word, not volunteering to offer his tracking services.

Beth huffed and stood up then.

"Fine. If you won't track, I will," she said harshly, dusting off her jeans and grasping her knife tightly. She walked passed me and went into the woods. No, no, no, don't leave me here with him! Don't go off by yourself! A couple beats passed when Daryl finally peered up from the fire, through the curtain of dark brown hair covering his eyes and looked into the woods towards the direction Beth left in. He sighed, picking up his belongings and stood up quickly. He stepped on the fire, putting it out and walking passed me with not so much as a look. I made myself move quickly to follow him.

* * *

The sun had come up soon after we left the campsite and we had come upon a whole mess of footprints. Daryl looked over the tracks, seeing some large, and some small.

"Could be Luke's. Or Molly's," Beth said, hopeful, "Whoever they are, it mean's they're alive."

Daryl was quick to let her down.

"No. This means they were alive four or five hours ago."

Beth looked back at him, still a stone, cold, look on her face.

"_They're alive."_

Daryl ignored her tone and kept focusing on the tracks. He pointed at a clutter of them in front of him.

"They picked up the pace right here. Got out in a hurry. Things went bad."

I watched Beth roll her eyes and turn her back towards him. She walked over to a bush full of something that looked like it could be edible from the distance I was standing at.

"It wouldn't kill you to have a little faith," she said.

"Yeah, faith. Faith ain't done shit for us. Sure as hell didn't do nothing for your father."

I watched Beth's reaction. She went completely still. Rigid. Her fingers stopped plucking the fruit from the bushes, but she looked back at him with a look on her face that could only express, _how dare you. _So I was right. She did lose someone. I felt stupid for not seeing it before. The way she hesitated answering my questions. Well, now we had something else in common besides being alive. We lost someone we loved. Specifically a father. I wasn't sure what to do or say. I wanted to scold Daryl for saying something like that, especially to a teenager. I remember being her age. It wasn't like it was that long ago either. I had plenty of things I could've lost faith in, plenty of hardships, dark things that had happened to me, but I was naive. I had faith everything would work out as it was supposed to. Had faith that everything would be resolved and I'd be happy again. I got out, left my family, and went to school. Lived on campus even just so I could stay away. There you go, problem solved. Of course, now, I was wondering if I should've maybe stayed a little while longer with them.

I opted to stay quiet this time. I watched Beth shake off the look she was giving him and turn around walking towards the bush that I figured out had grapes on it. She started to pick them off one-by-one and stacking them in her small hands.

It was Daryl that caught my attention next. His eyes narrowed, he still had the same scowl on his face, but something was different. His shoulders were slumped, he was chewing the inside of his lip like he was processing something in his mind. He looked at her and then back at me nervously. Guilt. He was feeling guilt. I recognized it now. It was the same look my father gave me when my mom yelled at me in front of him because he kept me out too late.

"They'll be hungry when we find them," she spoke softly.

Daryl turned and reached for something in his back pocket and pulled out a bandana. He took a couple of steps forward holding it out to her, nudging Beth's arm lightly to get her attention. She turned and looked at him briefly before taking it from him, and put the grapes in the small cloth, wrapping them up. Daryl went back to looking at the tracks on the ground, again not even glancing at me. I guess that's his game with me then. Just pretend I'm not here. Well I'm here alright, and watching these two interact and having nothing to say in the matter made me feel isolated enough… thank you very much.

We continued walking figuring if we followed the tracks maybe we'd end up finding the people they belonged to. All the while still not talking to each other. Just walking. It was nice for me, a little uncomfortable sure, but nice. I prefer not to make small talk anyway. I nearly ran into Daryl when he stopped abruptly in front of me and rubbed his fingers on the leaves next to him. Beth turned around to see what he was looking at.

"That ain't walker blood," he answered.

"How do you know," I found myself asking. What, was he some kind of doctor now? Could he see what others could not in blood?

He looked back at me, like he does, his expression mirroring that of seeing nothing but a dumb girl asking stupid, obvious questions.

"It's fresh…red…walker blood is…dead blood, almost black."

Oh. Right. Of course.

"Well the trail keeps going. They fought them off," Beth said, hopeful.

"No. Got walker tracks all up and down here. At least a dozen of em," he said back diminishing every hopeful thought in Beth's mind, hell even my mind, and I didn't even know the rest of their group.

I watched Beth walk passed us peering into the woods figuring out where their people could of gone when Daryl and I both heard the low rumble of what could only be used to describe the groan of a walker emerge and come up behind Beth.

Before I could scream out the walker was behind her, grabbing her shoulders. She squirmed and fought until Daryl ran passed me and grabbed his shoulders throwing him to the ground and smashing his head in with his crossbow. I jumped seeing something so brutal in front of me. Stood frozen.

Daryl took a moment to breathe before he got up and touched Beth's elbow signalling for her to follow him away. Again, not asking me to follow him. It almost like being the dog of the group. Not really having to be told to come, just knowing, following the owner. We all started to run in fear that more walkers would be around and all three emerged out of the woods to see a single railroad track. We looked right, nothing, left…not nothing. There were several bodies a few feet ahead of us and only two were moving. Making a meal out of some poor person. I could hear the tearing of flesh and growling desperation to keep feeding and knowing that these…things…would never stop being hungry. I had seen this only a couple of times since it started. The benefits of hiding. Not seeing. The first time in the airport, I was so shocked by it I never really had time to feel anything else. Mostly just shock and needing to find a way to get out of the janitors closet unseen. The second time, well that was…before I decided to stick to the woods, actually the reason I decided to. It was quick so I saw it and moved on. But now, no one was really moving. We kinda just stood there observing until Daryl started to walk over to the walkers, sticking an arrow in each of their heads and I found the time to finally feel something other than shock. It was a bubbling feeling, like something rising…no really…something was rising….oh no.

I ran away from Beth sparing her from having to see me spill the contents of my actually pretty empty stomach. Something told me she was conditioned to seeing much worse, but still. I considered myself a decent person. I ran over to a bush and vomitted, seeing that it was really only bile coming up which burned like a bitch and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand when I felt I was done. I walked back over and in the time that it took for me to throw up, Beth had already walked down to the bodies and was just standing there staring down. Daryl was a few feet in front of her looking like he was ready to keep going, but stopped and turned to look at her. It was the sound of her crying that alerted me first. So anguished, like she put her whole body and soul into it. I didn't know what to do again. I always felt unsure of myself or what to do when someone else was hurting. I didn't know how to handle pain I guess when it wasn't happening to me. By the looks of it…neither did Daryl. So we had something in common after all.


End file.
